Bookwhen is a general booking platform for any industry. SeshDesk is purpose-built for activity clubs, with a free public directory, funded places management, and no monthly fees.
SeshDesk costs 2.5% per booking — plus Stripe fees only — with no monthly fee and nothing on free or funded sessions. Bookwhen costs Free - €39/month (priced in EUR), and a free tier is available. Bookwhen is a general booking platform used across many industries. It offers a free tier with 50 bookings/month, making it accessible for very small operations. SeshDesk is purpose-built for activity clubs: no monthly subscription, a free public Activities directory listing, and built-in funded-places tracking and a funder evidence export with a HAF (DfE baseline) preset you adapt.
SeshDesk charges a flat 2.5% on paid bookings — plus Stripe's standard processing fee — with no monthly fee, no setup cost, and no charge on free or funded sessions. Bookwhen costs Free - €39/month (priced in EUR). For a club with variable or seasonal delivery, SeshDesk's no-monthly-fee model means you pay nothing in a month with no paid bookings.
| Feature | SeshDesk | Bookwhen |
|---|---|---|
| BOOKING FEATURES | ||
| Recurring sessions | Yes | Yes |
| Block bookings | Yes | Yes |
| Capacity management | Yes | Yes |
| Multi-participant bookings | Yes | Yes |
| Natural language session creation | Yes | No |
| PAYMENTS | ||
| Stripe integration | Yes | Yes |
| PayPal support | No | Yes |
| Discount codes | Yes | Yes |
| Invoicing | Yes | No |
| Account credits | Yes | No |
| OPERATIONS | ||
| Digital attendance | Yes | Yes |
| Email notifications | Yes | Yes |
| Online sessions (Zoom/Teams/Meet) | Yes | Yes |
| Website embed | Yes | Yes |
| Staff management | Yes | Yes |
| Custom branding | Yes | Yes |
| PRICING | ||
| No monthly fee at any volume | Yes | No |
| Low 2.5% booking fee | Yes | No |
| Free sessions cost nothing | Yes | No |
| FOCUS | ||
| Custom booking questions | Yes | Yes |
| Participant transfers | Yes | No |
| UK-based support | Yes | Yes |
| Schema markup for Google | Yes | No |
| FUNDING & GRANT REPORTING | ||
| Funded places management | Yes | No |
| Funder evidence export | Yes | No |
| Grant readiness scoring | Yes | No |
| At-risk funded place detection | Yes | No |
| MEL funder reporting | Yes | No |
| Free sessions at zero platform cost | Yes | No |
Bookwhen has no directory of its own — discovery there means opting your sessions into an OpenActive feed that other companies' activity finders may pick up, or paying for Enterprise, where the search portal covers only your own linked accounts. SeshDesk's Activities directory lists 93,664+ activities across the UK — including clubs already on Bookwhen. Your listing is there whether you switch or not. Switch to SeshDesk and it becomes a full live-booking profile with availability, pricing, and one-tap registration.
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